good morning. tough questions. state department officials set to be grilled on capitol hill today over that terror attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. were calls for more security ignored? we'll have dramatic new details on the assault that left four americans dead. where's jessica? the paties of a missing 10-year-old girl in colorado open up for the first time about their daughter's disappearance. >> i want her to walk through that back door. i need her to walk back through that door. >> as fbi officials search the girl's home and leave with bags of evidence. and heaven help us.

a nun walks into a convenience store and is caught on camera stealing beer. whether she's the real deal or someone in disguise, she's got some confessing to do today, wednesday, october 10th, 2012. from nbc news, this is "today" with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. and good morning. welcome to "today" on a wednesday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> good morning, everyone. i'm savannah guthrie. more on the chilling new time line of the deadly attack in libya and today's hearing in a moment, but meantime, in the presidential race, it looks like mitt romney is not the only one you might say is ruffling feathers a bit on "sesame street." >> that show is calling on president obama's campaign to pull its new ad featuring big bird, and romney is blasting his opponent for focusing so much attention on that one moment

from last week's debate. we'll talk about all that about robert gibbs who is a senior adviser to the president's campaign. a story i love. one mom's victory for parents everywhere. she was tired of always have to pick up after her kids so she went on strike, and this was the result. she didn't tell her kids anything. just let that mess pile up. she took photographs. the question is did it have the impact on her daughters that she was hoping for? she'll tell us in a live interview. >> love this story, and it gives me the creeps because of all the germs in those pictures, the dog eating out of the dishwasher. anyway, we'll get to her in a while. >> got a little bit messy. we'll start, of course, with the new details on the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell has the details. andrea, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. officials describe in dramatic detail a major assault by heavily armed militias, not the spontaneous copycat demonstration other officials had originally described.

officials say all was quiet on the night of the attack until 9:40 p.m. when teams of men invaded the compound. security agents took ambassador christopher stevens to a bunker inside the residence. the attackers sprayed diesel fuel igniting the building. trapped inside unable to see or breathe through heavy smoke, the ambassador and a security agent tried to escape through a bathroom window. the agent got out but then couldn't find the ambassador. his body turned up hours later in the hospital where the staff had dialed numbers in his cell phone to identify him. eventually surviving agents drove an armored vehicle through heavy fire from an ak-47 to an annex several miles away. the main compound was hit by mortar fire and survivors fled on a jet flown in from tripoli. at a hearing this morning officials will testify they had asked for more security for months and were turned down, claiming the administration was in a hurry to turn security over to libya. republican jason chaffetz just

returned from libya. >> if you can't add that up as a potential security threat, my goodness, all the signs were there. there was a request for more personnel. that was denied. in fact, they reduced the number of personnel. >> reporter: the state department denies it ever turned down such requests and blamed republican cuts on the security threat. committee democrats complain they have had no witness to key witness or to documents. matt? >> andrea mitchell in washington on this. thanks very much. now to presidential politics and on the ongoing dustup on the campaign trail between mitt romney and the president over of all things big bird. nbc's peter alexander is in akron, ohio. pete, good morning. >> reporter: matt, good morning to you. there is new evidence this morning that mitt romney has largely erased president obama's lead here in the crucial battleground state of ohio, and this morning both campaigns are trying to capture that special energy that exists in a near election and a narrowing race.

with the calendar ticking down to november 6th on a crisp ohio night, mitt romney offered an alternative to the obama calls four more years >> i think the right chant ought to be four more weeks, four more weeks, all right. >> reporter: new jersey governor chris christie looked directly into the camera and delivered this blunt message. >> mr. president, you have lived inside 1600 pennsylvania for four years. if you can't change washington from inside the white house, then let's get you the plane ticket back to chicago you've earned! >> reporter: also in ohio, trying to hang on to a slim lead, president obama as a new poll shows romney has trimmed his opponent's advantage to four points. >> i need you fired up. i need you ready to go to vote because we've got some work to do. we've got an election to win. everything that we fought for in 2008 is on the line in 2012. >> reporter: ohio is the closest

thing to a must-win battleground for both campaigns no. republican president has won the white house without t.obtuse, romney waded into an explosive social issue telling "the des moines register" as president he would not pursue any legislation with regards to abortion, an apparent shift on an issue the obama campaign has tried to use against him. the president's campaign pounced writing we know the truth about where he stands on a woman's right to choose. meanwhile, the campaign's "sesame street" sideshow has turned into a regular feature. will.i.am opened the president's rally yesterday with a familiar theme ♪ sunny day." >> somebody is finally getting tough on big bird. who knew that he was driving our deficit? >> he's focused on saving big is kind of a strange thing in my view because, you see, i'm focused on helping the american people get good jobs and brighter prospects. >> reporter: both sides were responding to this new obama campaign ad using big bird to mock romney's plan to clip

federal subsidies to public broadcasting. >> mitt romney, taking on our enemies, no matter where they nest. >> reporter: it's already ruffling feathers with the non-profit behind "sesame street" objecting and asking the campaign to remove "sesame street" characters from their ads. just a short time from now, mitt romney will step into that bus and begin criss-crossing the state. it is a long day for him, a bus tour again to try to win this must-win state. the biggest headline of the week, matt, may still yet to be written. that could come tomorrow after paul ryan and joe biden face off. that, of course, is the first and only vice presidential debate. >> all right. peter alexander in ohio this morning. peter, thank you very much. robert gibbs is a senior adviser to president obama's campaign. robert, good to see you. good morning. >> good morning, matt. >> your colleague david plouffe said on "meet the press" over the weekend that if the first debate fundamentally changed the race you'd start to see polling in places like ohio draw to a tie. not a tie just yet but the race

in ohio has narrowed considerably. in michigan it's gone from a ten-point president obama lead down to about three or four points. can you deny that the momentum, robert, is firmly on the side of mitt romney right now? >> well, matt, we always expected this to be a very close race, and we expect it as we got closer to election day that the race would tighten even more. we've prepared for that since the beginning of this. but, look, i think it's a discussion of real issues that are going to be what separates these two candidates. you know, your piece that peter just did mentioned, you know, the fact that one more time we've got an example of mitt romney changing a position in publicven though everybody knows what he believes. yes, they are telling "the des moines register" he has absolutely nothing on his agenda to restrict a woman's right to choose when he said in a debate that he'd be happy to sign a piece of legislation that banned all abortions. it's one -- it's one -- look, it's one more thing that we've seen from mitt romney that he's trying to have two different positions as we get closer to

voting. >> robert, i'm glad you say it's about real issues, because i have to be honest with you. i personally was a bit surprised that the campaign released this big bird ad yesterday. i mean, is that the kind of political ad that a campaign releases when it feels that it has ideas and solutions on its side, or is that the kind of political ad a campaign releases when it simply wants to get attention? >> well, look, matt. i think the ad and the president have an important point on this. you know, mitt romney took to the debate and said i'm going to get tough by ending downton abbey and go to war with "sesame street" and let wall street off the hook as we go forward with financial reform. look, we can't have a president that does that. certainly part of a very real issue, and it's one more piece, matt, of something that mitt romney said in the debate that he would like to change or is a position that he's going to walk away from. >> i find it hard to believe that i'm asking this question here this morning, but will the

campaign take big bird out of its ads? >> i don't know of any plans to change -- to change that. >> all right. >> andrew sullivan of "the daily beast" assailed the president's performance in the first debate saying the following. i've never seen a candidate this late in the game so far ahead just throw in the towel the way obama did last week. how do you erase that imprinted first image from public consciousness, a president incapable of making a single argument or even a halfway decent closing argument? so with the second debate just a week away, robert, does president obama understand what he did wrong? does he agree that he took the wrong approach? >> matt, there's no doubt, and i've said this repeatedly, that the president understands that he didn't even live up to his own high expectations for that debate, but i think the real issues that we're going to see debate the both in the vice presidential debate tomorrow and coming up as we get closer to this next presidential debate, how are we going to build this economy for middle class america? are we going to do it as

president obama and vice president biden want to did it from the middle out, strengthening opportunity and investing in education and bringing manufacturing jobs back overseas or with mitt romney, tax breaks for the rich. >> how much pressure has that first debate put on vice president biden's shoulders tomorrow now? >> well, i look forward to watching the vice president tomorrow. i know he's eager to do it. i think he's going to have to be on his toes because my guess is you're going to see what mitt romney tried to do which is paul ryan, congressman ryan walk away from the positions that he's held during this campaign and try to give a much, much different and softer image for the american people. >> we'll all be watching. robert gibbs, thank you for your time. >> thanks, matt. >> a reminder, can you watch the vice presidential debate. that's tomorrow night, 9:00 eastern, 6:00 pacific right here on nbc. now 11 after the hours. here's savannah. matt, thank you. the parents of a missing colorado girl are speaking out for the first time since their daughter's miss appearance.

nbc's miguel almaguer has the latest on this story. miguel, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. federal, state and local authorities are all working this case as jessica parents speak out for the first time and a community comes together. >> let's have a moment of silence where we just keep our lights to the sky. >> reporter: at a park where she often played, more than 1,000 gathered to pray for jessica ridgeway. the pint-sized 10-year-old seen in this recent home video has been missing since friday. >> she's my rock. i mean, she's all of our rock. she's the one when you're kind of down, she's going to come along, and she's going to make you laugh. >> reporter: police say jessica was last seen walking to school. her mother, sarah ridgeway, said good-bye shortly before jessica vanished. >> i wash her back out the door, and i shut the door, and that's the last time i saw her, and i want her to come backing back through that door. i need her to walk through that

door. >> reporter: when jessica's school called home to say she had never made it to class, jessica's mom, who works the night shift, was sleeping. hours passed before she got the message. jessica was nowhere to be found. >> i made sure, you know, she wasn't in the places that i knew she wasn't going to be, but, you know, you have to check, and she wasn't there, and that's when i knew. i went straight back home, called directly 911. >> reporter: sunday jessica's backpack was found some six miles from her home, one of the few clues police have made public. authorities have canvassed mile after mile, some 400 homeowners in jessica's neighborhood alone will be interviewed. tuesday the fbi was back at jessica's home, leaving with babag s. police say her mother and father are fully cooperating. jessica's dad who lives in missouri has flown to colorado

to bring his fifth grader home. >> it's the worst thing i've ever been through. >> and then you get the pit in your stomach that you don't want any parent, any parent to ever experience in their whole entire life. everything's just been taken >> reporter: little girl who loves to dance, often giggling and always playing with her dolls has been gone for almost a week. a community grieving together as a mother and father hold out hope. >> we'll never stop looking, and we love her. >> reporter: as the investigation and the search for jessica enters day six, police say they do not believe her disappearance is connected to any other possible abductions that have happened in this region. more than 100 officers continue to work this case, but, savannah, there have been no major breaks. >> all right. miguel almaguer in colorado this

morning. thank you. >> let us get a check of the morning's other top stories with natalie. good morning. >> good morning, matt and savannah. good morning, everyone. attorneys for convicted child sexual abuser jerry sandusky are preparing their appeal this morning. nbc's michael isikoff has more from bellefonte, pennsylvania. michael, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, natalie. jerry sandusky now officially branded a sexually violent predator will be transferred from a county jail to a state prison next week to begin serving what amounts to a life sentence. judge john cle lapd's words were stinging as he rebuked jerry sandusky for assaulting his victims. the crime is not only what you did to their bodies but to their psyches and their souls. he sentenced sandusky to 30 to 60 years, not as much as some victims wanted, their lawyers said, but it accomplished its purpose. >> bottom line is he's going to spend his life in prison. no question about that. >> reporter: sandusky, 68, was convicted of abusing ten young

boys. one of them choked back tears tuesday, saying he was still haunted by flashbacks of sandusky molesting him. another said to the defendant, i'll never forgive you. because of you, i'll never allow my only child out of my sight because of fear of what might happen to him. sandusky gave a rambling statement professing his innocence, recalling his glory days as a penn state football coach, helping troubled kids and echoing some of the same points he made in a radio broadcast from jail casting doubt on his accusers. >> i've wondered what they really won, attention, financial gain, prestige. >> reporter: chief prosecutor joe mcgettigan was contemptuous. >> banal in the extreme, self-centered and devoid of any connection with the reality of the harm he has caused t.sounded like a testimony to himself. >> reporter: now when sandusky is taken a state prison intake center next week, he egundergo psychological evaluation as

officials seek to determine whether he can safely mix with other prisoners or he needs to be kept in isolation for his own protection. natalie. >> michael isikoff in bellefonte, pennsylvania, thank you. investigators are sifting through a veritable arsenal found on a man arrested at los angeles international airport. the 28-year-old traveling from japan to boston was found wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a suitcase containing a smoke grenade, a biohazard suit, a gas mask and leg irons, among other weapons. investigators say the man is not cooperating, but he is not believed to be linked to a terror organization. the death toll in the national meningitis outbreak is rising. 11 people have now died of the rare fungal strain of the disease linked to steroid shots given for back pain. 119 people have been sickened by the illness, and the company that makes those injections has recalled all of its products. the supreme court takes up a challenge to affirmative action today. the court ruled on this divisive issue nine years ago, deciding

that race could be a factor in at missions, allowing colleges more diverse student bodies. the decision now could limit or even eradicate the program all together. and did halloween come a little early, or is this video for real? take a look at this security camera footage posted to youtube, has gone viral. it appears to show a very thirsty nun stealing several beers from a convenience store, and since no one has confessed yet, either this nun's on the run or maybe it's a holy hoax, or it's all disguised. who knows. 7:18 right now. back over to savannah and matt. say ten hail marys for that. >> what do we think, real or fake? >> no way of knowing. >> no. >> i mean, clearly, it's -- it's not the situation she wanted to be caught in. >> no. >> i think she can be identified pretty quickly, don't you? >> exactly. we know her. natalie, thanks so much. let's check in with mr. roker on the road this morning in miami. lucky guy. hey, al. >> hey, you know, she keeps

doing that, she is really going to become a bad habit. >> so, we missed you. we needed that. >> it was there. we knew you were going there, just couldn't do anything to stop it. >> thank you. thank you very much. anyway, we are in miami at the coast guard station in miami beach. we'll tell you why in just a little bit. it's really hot here. they set a record yesterday. look at this cold air that's going to be making its way in. we are talking minneapolis, 52 for a high today. 9 degrees below normal. chicago at 51. 14 degrees below normal. ahead of the front, nice and warm in d.c. and charleston, but then tomorrow that system moves through, and the can you see those temperatures drop in the east, and there's another cold front coming in behind that that's going to reinforce that cold air. fall is here. that's what's going on around s >> good morning. starting to do with low clouds and drizzle in some neighborhoods. the clouds to break up is to go into the afternoon. it will turn not been

that's your latest weather. matt? >> all right, al. thank you very much. we often wring you stories of people who make wrong choices, but this morning we have one about a man in boston or near boston who did the right thing. nbc's andrea canning has details on that. good morning, good to see you. >> good morning, matt. there are good people out there in the world. we'll call this story the opposite of finders keepers losers weepers. leo has a business hauling away people ejunk and occasionally he finds something work keeping but when he found an envelope stuffed with 1970s era savings bond this man showed he had a heart of gold. >> a kind of knock out the door that makes for great tv. >> the envelope, there was

22,000 $250. >> this weekend he delivered nearly $115,000 to brother and sister joe and marie larosa. >> i almost fell backwards. good thing that my brother was with me. i was in shock. >> it's like hitting the lottery, you know. it will change your life. >> reporter: by law this junk man owns everything he puts on his truck, but after cleaning out the velosa's house he made a find he couldn't help imagine holding on to. >> there were 22,300 worth of savings bonds. >> reporter: issued in 1972 with inflation, the savings bond are now worth over $114,000. >> we news our faith in humanity that honest people are out there. it was very nice of him to bring them back. >> 400. >> 5. >> yeah, sold. >> reporter: there's a growing number of reality shows reeling in audiences with the breathtaking prospect of big dollars hidden in ordinary junk.

looking to cash in on his own potential for reality stardom he recently had a camera crew finding him around in hopes of landing a show, but this is his best material yet. >> this is the craziest. we found confederate money, gold coin, some watches, and this was -- this tops it all. >> reporter: with a flair for showmanship he made the delivery with local tv his production crew and newspapers in tow, a bit of grandstanding maybe, but certainly a story worth watching. >> so heartwarming to return something like that, you know. in this economy everyone needs extra money. >> at today's value with interest, $113,954! you just hit the lottery. >> reporter: their mother died a year ago and the saves bonds are all in her name. marie and joe say this is her

way of staying in their lives. made it through my first day. >> did want to welcome you beforehand and make you more nervous but now that the piece is over, great to have you here at nbc. >> what an honor it is to be here. thanks for having me and letting me be part of your family. >> so happy to have you, andrea. >> watch out for this one. >> i know this one. >> just ahead, the duchess of cambridge sets off on a solo tour this morning. we're live at buckingham palace tour this morning. we're live at buckingham palace and the

it's heavy lifting. you start with a democratic senator named ben. by getting bwi-marshall funding for new runways, he's helping us serve 21 million passengers a year, which helps keep 100,000 jobs that depend on the airport, and that means more cargo for more businesses and more skycaps unloading more taxis... welcome to bwi. ...carrying families with more luggage. thanks. it's like he's out here with us. he's my friend, ben. i hope he's your friend, too. i'm ben cardin, and i approve this message. just ahead, a woman who fought to keep her internet searches against her in court. >> after your local news. ded su, just one glass equals two servings of fruit. very fruit-tritious. or, try ocean spray light 50, with just 50 calories, a full serving of fruit and no added sugar. with tasty flavors like cranberry-pomegranate and cranberry- concord grape, it's like a fruit stand in every bottle.

just...you know... demonstrating how we blend the fruits. try all our tasty ocean spray 100% and light 50 juices. >> this is wbal-tv 11 news in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. 11 news i-team learns that a city police officer will not be charged criminally in an accidental shooting that resulted in the death of a 13- year-old girl. no charges will be filed against john ward in the death of monae turnage. city police say that ward

remains suspended with pay for now. time for the morning commute with sarah caldwell. >> dealing with accidents on many of our major roadways. southbound i-83, middletown road. those delays stretch back to york road. further south, howard county, average speeds around 21 miles per hour. 21 miles per hour through that area. you up-to-date on the delays due to the accidents. 95 and 100, police activity on the southbound side taking up the left lane. we will switch over to a live view of 83 and york road from the parkton region. still seeing those delays from york road to middletown. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> not a great start for us,

weather-wise. 55 of the airport, 53 in randallstown. most of the steady rain out is north of us in new york this morning. as soon as we can get rid of the low clouds, fog, and drizzle, it will be a decent day in the afternoon. early in the morning there will be some drizzle and fog. high temperature is close to 70. then it will cool off again. chris, cool, and quiet going

well, you are looking at one enormous mess created by three little girls when their mom decided to go on strike. she kept her kids in the dark to see how long it would take them to actually start picking up after themselves, and you can see that some time passed. it got a little bit messier and messier and messier, so we'll meet the mom who went on strike just ahead. >> it got ugly. i mean, the dog eating out of dishwasher. milk and glass turning into a cheese-like substance. >> hair balls involved. this is not good. >> no. >> love that mom. it's a wednesday morning, 10th of october, 2012. i'm savannah guthrie alongside

mr. neatnik, matt lauer. >> the duchess of cambridge will appear alone today while her husband goes to his nanny's funeral. >> have you seen the pictures of sarah palin recently? she looks really thin. but first a woman who pressed charges against the man who raped her and we'll talk more but first more on her harrowing journey. >> reporter: good morning. jennifer bennett said she expected defense lawyers to scrutinize her past but believes they went too far, requesting her search engine records to try to prove she had not been raped. now she's speaking out and telling her story to keep other victims from suffering the same. if you've been beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled, should it matter to the court what you've been googling? that's what the defense was demanding from victim jennifer

bennett. they subpoenaed her journal, computer, even her search engine records. >> i drew my line in the sand and this is where i'm going to stick up for myself. i was not the criminal. so investigating me and my life, it just didn't seem right. it didn't seem just. >> reporter: her ordeal began in beautiful bend, oregon on a first date with a charming doctor she had met on match.com. thomas bray, a former anesthesiologist and teacher at a local community college. the date was going well so they went for a night cap at his home where bennett said he attacked her. the assault lasted five hours. >> she had been strangled. she had been beaten about the face so she had tki in both eyes. one of her eyes, her left eye was blackened. she had bruising around her neck. >> reporter: bray finally let her go home. as she stood in her shower

bennett decided not to turn on the water. instead, to get dressed, go to the hospital and press charges. >> i needed to do this for other people and not just for myself. i needed to make sure that this man didn't hurt anyone else. >> reporter: bennett knew that she would have to relive the assault on the stand. that bray's defense team would scrutinize her personal life, but she and her attorneys were stunned to hear they wanted her search engine record from a month before and after the attack. >> you make internet searches all the time but you never think anyone is going to be looking in and using that as a reason why this -- as a defense over something horrific that happened to you. >> it's as relevant as if she went and googled how to make chili. it really doesn't matter. >> reporter: defense attorneys disagreed claiming bennett herself told police she had done a few google searches prior to filing her report. >> at a minimum it would have established that the accuser

herself had grave doubt in her mind as to whether her encounter with my client constituted criminal behavior at all. >> reporter: bennett refused to turn the material over, and the judge subsequently refused to enforce the subpoena. he found bray greaty and sentenced him to 25 years in prison. a personal victory for bennett and a legal one for all victims of rape in protecting their privacy. >> the fact is there is little precedent for this kind of legal request. however, law experts suspect people's online histories will play more of a role in all legal matters. savannah. >> thank you. jennifer bennett is with us exclusively along with her attorney. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> jennifer, i first have to ask you, after this long and terrible road how you're doing this morning. >> i'm a little tired. i'm from the west coast, but i'm doing much better, and i'm looking forward to the future. >> the sentence came down i believe last week, 25 years.

that is a significant sentence. did it feel like justice had been done? >> absolutely. if i understand it, it's an unusual length sentence for someone who commits this type of crime. >> your case got attention because of not just the brutality you went through and what you went through in court afterwards and people are aware sometimes rape victims do almost get revictimized in the trial's process, but this seems unprecedented. what was your reaction when you learned the defense lawyers were seeking your google searches? >> i was shocked and i was hurt and i couldn't believe that this was happening, and honestly i -- i felt like i needed to stick up for myself and stick up for everyone else. >> what else did they ask for? it wasn't just the searches. wasn't it facebook and that kind of thing. >> they wanted lots of different things, facebook, e-mail, the journals that i use for counseling, to help my healing process, and it was -- it was extraordinary amount of information. i didn't see how it was

relevant. >> were you nervous at all about basically defying a defense request and for a moment defying a court order? >> yes, i was a little nervous. there were some evenings there that it was a very real possibility that i could be held in contempt of court and i hoped and knew in my heart if i did the right thing and followed what i knew was right that everything would fall into place in the end. >> good time to bring your attorney, jennifer, into this. i mean, to have a judge then ultimately decide not to enforce these subpoenas, that's pretty unusual, isn't it? >> it is. it's such a new area of the law. we obviously looked into it, and it's unprecedented across the country right now. i think that courts will have to deal with it more as everyone g goes to google whenever they have a question and they expect those google searches to be private. but the whole area is completely unprecedented right now actually. >> let me be a devil's advocate for just a moment. i know defense attorneys would say that the defendant is entitled to put on a defense and

to get information, and what would your response be to that? >> the google search records are completely irrelevant, and you're so correct on the revictimization of victims, and for her to draw the line in the sand at that was spectacular because she wasn't just younger for herself. she was doing it for all victims who may go into technology in the future when they have questions. >> i know you had your eyes wide open when you entered this proce process. you knew it would be hard. did you imagine it would be this hard? >> no, i didn't. i mean, everyone keeps saying that i'm so strong to be going through this and standing up for everyone, but i always just tried to follow what was right, what i think is morally correct, and that's what i tried to do here. >> what message did you want to send to others by coming out publicly and saying here i am, this happened to me? >> i just -- i want to say, yes, this happened to me, i am a good person. i didn't do anything to deserve this, and there's lots of people out there that this happens to

all the time, and they deserve their justice as well. >> and before we let you go. do you feel like you can turn a corner now, now that that process is behind you and put your life back together? >> yes. i want to become a teacher, a chemistry teacher, and that's where i'm heading with my life, but i also want to make sure that anyone else that this may happen to or it's already happened to gets the help that they need and can seek justice in their own way. >> well, jennifer bennett, so happy to talk to you. thank you for bringing this story to us and thank you as well. we will take a turn now and get a check of the weather. al is down in miami this morning. al, good morning to you. >> well, good morning, savannah. we're here at the coast guard miami beach station. it's part of an effort to tell you about a new program starting on the weather channel tonight at 9:00 "coast guard florida" and we'll bring you more of that in just a little bit. we've got some volatile weather making its way on to the west coast. big upper level low getting itself together, spinning around, bringing rain into

central and southern california. as this system makes its way on shore, all eeoc in the next 24 hours, it's got a lot of moisture, going to drag that moisture up out of the southwest, and as it pushes east, we look for a lot of rain to start falling. there could be some flash flood watches stretching into central and southern nevada, on into the southwest, and as this system makes its way to the west we're looking for a risk of strong strms as we move into the weekend into the d

>> and that's your latest weather. savannah. >> all right, al. thank you. coming up, why your next tax bill could go way up. what you can do to try to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, and then your first look inside this year's neiman marcus christmas book, are you kidding me, already? but first these messages. stop shopping now, lauer. [ male announcer ] there's chicken and there's juicy chicken hellmann's is the secret to making parmesan crusted chicken so juicy so delicious it's your secret to making dinner disappear

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chatzky is here to sort it all out. good morning. >> reporter: this . >> good morning. >> this is based on a stalemate that's been in existence for a time. what's at stake here? >> at the end of the year, as you said, there's spending cuts that affect more than 1,000 government programs. >> mandated. >> absolutely. that could go into effect. tax cuts set to expire, including the bush tax cuts and the payroll tax cut. combined, all of these things could wipe about 5% growth off the economy, throw us into recession and the tax increases from 90% of americans. >> that sounds like the doomsday scenario. i mentioned there's been a stalemate so far, but the pressure is going to month on both sides to get something done. what's the likelihood we end up falling off this fiscal cliff? >> it's teetering right now. we've got eight senators, democrats and republicans, meeting behind closed doors in mt. vernon trying to come to some sort of a compromise, but there are other people who

suggest that if we're allowed to go over the cliff, their negotiating power from both sides gains strength. >> let's break this down to the average person and the average family, all right. describe for me what happens to people at various income levels if all of these things actually fall into place. >> so, we're looking at 6% tax increases across the board, but for the lowest 20% of earners, that's about $400. for the middle earners it's about $2,000 a year and for the top 1% it's about 10%, but that equals $120,000. >> and, again, if we fall off the cliff, and let's all hope we don't get to that point, we have level heads prevail here, what about the job situation in the country? >> it will not be good. we're looking at one survey out of george mason university that says it could cost us more than 2 million jobs. also, lower growth, increased volatility in the markets which options traders have already started to hedge against, and unemployment benefits could be

reduced. >> what will the outcome of the election do to all of this? how will it impact it, and where is the room for negotiation? where is the solution here? >> the solution is not going to come until after the election. people are in total agreement on that, and what looks most likely at this point is that those payroll tax hikes -- payroll tax cuts be allowed to expire which will cost middle income families about $1,000, higher income families about $2,000 and we'll get some sort of compromise on the rest. >> so if you hear the term fiscal cliff and you don't think it applies to you. >> you're wrong. >> you're wrong. >> thanks very much. we appreciate it. >> sure. up next, the duchess of cambridge going solo aspirins william mourns a personal loss right after this. [ ding dong ]

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own. nbc's michelle kosinski is live in london. good morning to you. >> reporter: not much of a chance for everybody to be buttoned up lately, including william and kate. for them it's all about charging forward, doing the right thing. today kate represents the firm solo. in a week full of events. kate is back, regal, confidant, wearing the same elegant burgundy coat she wore for her first royal christmas. crowds adore her. she focuses on the children. today on her own, a day packed with appearances, with kate carrying the full confidence of the family. this week william and kate have arrived victorious back home to royal business, practically gleaming after their wildly successful tour in the tropics, not to mention their courtroom defeat of a french magazine. william and kate are very much aligned now as a team. notice how much even their mannerisms seem to have grown

alike. kate asked personal questions, paying close attention. across the room william says exactly the same. kate smiles warmly and william elicits huge laughs. both tend to talk with their hands. they nod together, even their thumbs move in unison. they are also good foils for each other. while all eyes on are kate talking about the goodness of sports, william is cracking the footballers up. yes, they may be the future king and queen, but these two put people at ease. >> oh, they were very funny, really lovely. very nice people. >> reporter: william even managed to sneak in another harry joke. i feel tempted to cry harry and george but i don't want to bring my brother into it. >> reporter: earlier he was partying in vegas but he's still in afghanistan in the middle of his second tour of duty.

he also made the cover of this magazine here, beneath that beautiful fully clothed photo they called him dirty harry and at least made him man of the year. today it will be all kate on her own at a series of events. while william attends the funeral of his nanny growing up. even a toddler king needs scolding every now and then, much to his displeasure. powell helped them through their parents divorce and mother's untimely death, and now william is truly coming into his own, along with his wife. those who know about these things say there's been a lot of pressure on william lately to decide what he wants to do, either sign up for another tour in the military starting next year, which he said he wants, or devote more time to public life which just may be what his grandmother, the queen, prefers. savannah. >> all right, michelle. thank you. just ahead, a mom who scored a victory for all parents by going on strike. >> after your local news.

[ man ] tell me about that. [ phil ] katie and i talked about really committing to making a difference in the amount of gas that we use. she was using 8 to 10 tankfuls. i was using 5 tankfuls. now i use one tankful a month, and she may use about two. it drives like a sports car. it handles very well. people are a little surprised that a hybrid zipped by them the way that i do. [ male announcer ] see phil's story and more at the camry effect. camry from toyota. [ male announcer ] see phil's story and more at the camry effect. ethan casually priced olors. with a $50 dollar savings for every $450 dollars you spend or 48 month financing. american colors. fabulous but...when i add chicken, barbecue sauce... and cheese...and roll it up woo-wee! i've made a barbecue chicken crescent chow down. pillsbury crescents. let the making begin.

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>> time for a check on that morning commute. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> another rough go of it is you are heading out. we have an accident southbound on the j.f.x. at northern parkway. that backup begins at the beltway is impacting your right on the inner and outer loop on the topside as well. northbound 395 at conway, watch for a crash. delays on southbound 95 prior to the beltway all the way to be on 100. southbound to no21 -- a 95 anne arundel mills, and 8 mi.

per hour southbound. the notes side is filling up quickly as you make your way on the outer loop towards 83. southbound 83 is holding on to those delays from york road to beyond mount carmel due to an earlier accident at middletown road. update on 95 and 100, we have delays in both directions in howard county. you can see that we are dealing with fog as well and the results. j.f.x. and ruxton road, southbound traffic is crawling. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> obviously not a great start for us, with a bang-wise. visibility is down 2 1/4. 56 of the airport, 54 in cockeysville. i think it will turn out to be a nice day. the cuts should break up as we head into the afternoon. it will turn warmer than it has

been. highs approaching 70 degrees. then it will cool off again. 63 tomorrow, 65 on friday.

8:00 now on a wednesday morning. it's the 10th day of october, 2012. yup, not a nice one here in new york. we've had rain over the last 24 hours or so. it continues, but they say it's going to get a little nicer today and that's a nice sign for these people here on the plaza. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie. al is on assignment down in miami. we'll check in with him in a couple of minute. meanwhile in our studio right now, we've got a mom who probably is a hero to a lot of moms across the country. she had had enough of picking up after her kids, three kids,

three daughters, and finally one day without saying anything she went on strike. she did nothing. she let the mess pile up and saw how long it would take for her daughters to realize t.wait until you hear how long it took and wait until you hear how bad it got. that mom will join us to find out how things are now in just a little while. >> so many moms in america are probably wondering what would have happened if i just stopped picking it up. >> you'll see photographic evidence of what will happen. >> nightmare comes true. >> also growing older and feeling fabulous. how all those hollywood stars manage to age gracefully, and we'll tell you about simple changes in style that you can make that will shave years off your look. >> all right. first, can i have a taller umbrella, please. why don't i get rid of this and let me tell you we have some very exciting family news here, because after years of speculation, willie geist, who you know from "morning joe" and way too early over on msnbc is

officially joining the family as the official host our third hour. >> thank you. i'm humbled. thinking about coming over here, 60 years of "today" show history going back to david garroway and to be a small part of that it's humbling. can't wait to work with all of you, you and al and kathie lee and hoda. i couldn't be more thrilled. >> you are a talented guy, but also i think what we've all come to know over the last couple of years here an awfully nice guy. appreciate it. >> appreciate t.couldn't get an umbrella on my first day. >> holding my arm up too long. >> when do you start? >> november the 12th, monday after the election. >> great. >> great to have you on board. >> happy to have you, willie. now let's get a check of the day's top stories other than willie's big news with natalie morales. >> and a big welcome from me as well to willie. happy to have him. well, in the news this morning, the state department has released a new time line of last month's attacks on the u.s.

consulate in libya that killed ambassador chris stevens and three other americans. it portrays the attack as a major planned assault by heavy armed militias, not the spontaneous demonstration other officials had originally described. that report comes as a republican-led house committee holds a hearing today on alleged diplomatic security failures in libya. the tsa says proper procedures were followed when a woman dying of leukemia was patted down at seattle's tacoma airport this morning. the woman says she was humiliated when she also had to lift her shirt and pull back bandages so agents could examine her feeding tubes in view of other passengers. the tsa says the woman was never asked to pull back any bandages. the woman was traveling to hawaii on what she expects will be the last trip of her life. police have released a mug shot of a groom's brother charged with inciting a riot and assaulting police during a wedding reception brawl in philadelphia. that fight ended with one guest

dead from a heart attack. the 26-year-old has posted bail and plans to fight the charges. austrian daredevil supersonic jump from the edge of space was postponed at the last month tuesday because of high winds at the launch site. felix baumgartner hopes to try again before the weekend. if successful, he would break the sound barrier after jumping from an altitude of 23 miles. two americans have won the nobel prize for chemistry. this morning robert lefkowitz and brian kabilka won for discovering a family of receptors that allow cells to sense their surroundings. now for a look at what's trending today, a quick roundup of what has you talking online. tycoons and dreamers are checking out this year's neiman marcus christmas catalog including $1 million his and her watches and a $100,000 hen house inspired by the palace at versaille or maybe you prefer the $150,000 tailgate trailer that comes with a year's supply

of bourbon and rye. well, new pictures of sarah palin on a shopping trip reveal her startling weight loss. the former politician and mother of five tells "people" that her family is writing a book on discipline, self-discipline and where they get energy while still enjoying comfort food and jimmy fallon spoofed mister roger's neighborhood as the campaign talks about cutting pbs funding. >> hello, neighbor. you see this. called a wallet. inside of a wallet, well, that's where money goes. now, do you know what money is? i'm guessing no because you're watching public television. >> fallon also got a advice friday mr. obama and joked that the president's debate performance taught kids a new word, choke. it is 8:05.

back to al for a check of your weather. hey, al. >> thanks so much, natalie. we're here at coast guard station miami beach, and the men and women of the coast guard here tasked with thousands of -- checking thousands of miles of coastline, all the way down, and they do a heck of a job. we're going to be documenting that on a special series on the weather channel starting tonight, 9:00. "coast guard florida." check it out. let's check out what we've got going on for you for today. pick city of the day, what a surprise. miami. and we are looking at some nice weather today. nbc 6, partly sunny and scattered thundershowers. a high of about 85 degrees. satellite radar, got a frontal system pushing its way through the great lakes. that's going to usher in cooler air into the east, and, in fact, as we go underneath the clouds and show you we'll be looking at showers and thunderstorms from the mid-mississippi river vale and the west and northeast and also some snow showers in the northern rockies as well. that's what's going on around thoi

>> good morning. starting to do with low clouds and drizzle in some neighborhoods. the clouds to break up is to go into the afternoon. it will turn not been >> and that's your latest weather. savannah? >> all right, al. thank you so much. coming up next, the mom who went on strike, stopped picking up after the kids, and, boy, did the kids get a valuable lesson. we'll have her story right after these messages. [ male announcer ] in a world where breakfast

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in this culinary powerhouse. dan. yes? molé sauce. [ male announcer ] with ge's most advanced cooking technology, the café line takes food further. ♪ . >> what would happen in your home -- ♪ i've got work, baby >> we're back new at 8:11. what would happen in your home if one day you stopped picking up after your kids? in a moment we'll talk to a mom who decided to find out by going on strike, that's right, strike. but first natalie has her story. natalie, good morning. >> good morning, matt. we love this story because for those of us with kids you know

how quickly a mess can accumulate. dirty dishes, wet towels, messy beds. jessica stilwell knows all too well, and now her three daughters do, too. it was a typical weekend in the stilwell house. mom jessica spent her days running errands and carting her girls to sports practice. by the end of the day she looked around at the mess in her house only to realize none of it was her own. with her husband dylan out of town jessica exhausted and fed up decided she and her husband should go on strike, pledging not to pick up, tidy, wash or clear anything in the house. >> when i got back on sunday is when my wife declared that we as parents are going on strike. i said okay. i support you 100%. what do we have to do? she says nothing. we're going to stop cleaning up after the kids. >> reporter: jessica and dylan did not tell the kids that they had gone on strike. a self-described neat freak jessica's only outlet was her blog where she posted pictures of her kids' mess, striking a chord with mommy readers

everywhere. by day one she confessed the dish washer is overflowing, shoes and backpacks are in the middle of the hallway. by day three says daughter quinn hit what she hoped was an all-time low. she emptied the dog brush and placed the bundle of hair on the arm of the chair. >> i was watching tv throughout the time. >> reporter: like any strong-willed workers on strike, jessica and danny stood firm. >> it was a pig sty. there's like milk everywhere. our cereal looked like oatmeal when it was actual cereal. there was like plates on top of plates. >> i thought like ew, this is disgusting. >> reporter: days went by. the mess multiplied and the girls began to catch on to mom and dad's trick. >> well, about the fourth day, around the fourth or fifth day i'm like hmm, i think something is going on but i'm not going to say anything. >> reporter: by day six the girls had had enough. >> i felt kind of like bad

because i saw all the mold around the kitchen. >> it was so overwhelming you didn't know where to clean it. >> reporter: the stilwells called off the strike and spent the next two days cleaning up as a family. did the kids learn any valuable lessons? >> i realize that had during the week my mom does a lot for us and we should be more appreciative of her. >> she does a lot and we messed up and need to pick up and put away our own stuff. >> much bet they are week. the kitchen has been cleaned. i can't say much about the laundry, but one step at a time, i think. >> well, jessica says her girls are pitching in more around the house, but on her blog she points out she did find a dirty pair of socks on the stairs so we'll see how long it lasts. matt. >> natalie, thank you very much. jessica stilwell, the striking mom is with us along with lisa belkin who wrote about jessica's story for "the huffington post." good morning. >> good morning. >> my hero. we're alike, both neatniks. how did you even handle sitting

there doing nothing watching this mess build up? >> it was a blog. it was the blog and the ability to sit and look at the mess and say that's going to be funny to write about tonight. >> but as you walked past the sink and the milk was curdling in the cereal bowl and the dishwasher was open and the dog was licking the dishes, you didn't want to just scream? >> i wanted to clean it, make myself feel better by cleaning it. i made a decision to leave it alone. >> let's be honest, they are 12 and 10, not 15 and 16, how long it took to recognize the fact that something was amis in the house. >> yeah. i mean, it went until friday night, right? it went longer than i thought. they recognized it, but they kept saying why isn't this cleaned up, when are you going to clean up? >> why aren't we cleaning up? >> like we? >> at one point didn't one of them sit down with a dirty dish right on the table. >> that's right. >> and say why is this here but still do nothing and leave it there and eat something? >> pushed it towards me, and i said that looks like your dirty

cereal, my love. >> i love this thing that you did, so they would come home from school with their lunch sacks, and normally that would be the time that you would clean them out and get them ready for the next day but you did. >> it's an after-school job, their responsibility to do it. >> and you started then giving them lunches in the bags that you would use or would have used to pick up the dog's pop? >> yes. >> now, we started off -- >> this is where i might have crossed the line. >> my hero. >> we started off using plastic bags from a local wine store as a joke, ha-ha, an my husband said we're out of those. and i said what do you want to do, and it was his twisted idea to use the poop bags for lunch. >> there may be some people at home seeing those pictures saying i'm not sure whether she's a bad mom or a hero. >> yeah, no, our readers are not sure. actually many of our readers are very sure. they just are sure of both things. you know, we -- we do our kids a d

disservice. i'm guilty. i read this piece and the reason it resonated for me i'm guilty of the same thing. it's easier to do it ourselves. we do it better ourselves. our kids are overloaded and don't want to load more on them, and then we end up with kids who just don't get it. they don't know how to do it. >> yeah. jessica, that's an important point you make on the blog and in the aftermath of this, that in some ways if we don't challenge our kids to do these things on their own. >> right. >> we're setting them up to fail. >> i do, and i have -- my kids -- i'm pretty strict, and my kids have responsibility and accountability within the home. it's not like i just did them to team them now. i've taught them for a very long time, but it was slipping because our family was so busy, so, yeah, i don't want a generation of kids who are entitled and just have -- don't have real life skills to be well-round adults. >> so you had how many days to sip wine and do nothing? >> five or six, yeah. >> you back okay, the hangover is over and the kids behaving. >> yeah, it's great. >> lisa, thanks for bringing the

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back now at 8:22 with our special series "growing older, feeling fabulous." nothing can you do, of course, to stop the clock, but some in hollywood have certainly found ways to age gracefully ♪ too young and beautiful >> botox, plastic surgery, liposuction, the pressure to stay young and beautiful is hotter than ever. >> the minute hdtv started coming out, you heard all the dermatologists in town just popping the champagne cork knowing how much more money they were going to make. >> with magazine covers and entertainment news shows documenting their every move, the secrets of how hollywood a-listers defy age are out. >> it takes a lot of money and upkeep and maintenance. >> sharon stone, who looks amazing. i don't think has ever had anything, denzel washington doesn't look a day older than he did 20 years ago. >> how you doing?

>> tom cruise looks amazing, a normal 50-year-old does not look like that. >> and that's because some of these ageless stars get a little help. >> demi moore. i think that she looks really great for her age. looks older than she was when she was 20, but looks good, had plastic surgery. george clooney, admitted to eyelid surgery, very natural, very masculine. >> in tinsel town it's never too early to start. >> if the goal is to look as good as you can for as long a period in your life as you can, then dealing with the problems as they arise, even if they are late 20s, early 30s, mid-30s. >> so a little maintenance over the years can go a long way toward that ever elusive goal of looking young and keeping people guessing. ♪ you light up my world like nobody else ♪ >> michelle pfeiffer is 54 and that's somewhere in that area. i'm not sitting here saying

we're all -- not too many 65-year-olds look like that. >> oh, god. ♪ that's what makes you beautiful ♪ ♪ >> now some style strategies, not surgery, to take years off your life. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> we'll highlight four mistakes people make. the first is wearing too baggy clothes. >> the idea, we get it. we think maybe we're not in the greatest shape of our lives or have baby weight left on so let's hide it. the opposite is true. >> and this look is the more thinning look. >> one of our secret weapons is a sheet dress. way tailored clothing, actually takes ten years, ten pounds off, like this great one from ted baker. >> and the peplum is very flattering. >> very flattering, we see jennifer anniston in this look recently and hides a bit of the hip area. >> the next mistake is the so-called mom jean. >> universally unflattering. whether we're moms or not. so, you know, a new silhouette that we're loving that's fresh and modern is the skinny jean.

not skin tight jeans, talking about a mid-rise tapered jean like these from j. crew, $115, looks great on most figures. >> a lot of us feel we can't pull off the skinny jean. doesn't have to be skin tight. a great tapered slim silhouette. >> all right. the next big mistake, they dress too young. >> well, you know, it's okay to go shopping with your daughter but might not want to buy every single piece of clothing that she chooses. the idea is bore oerkts trend. go with the trends, but sort of adjust the silhouette to more age-appropriate silhouettes. instead of the micromini shorts go with the great cobalt blue trouser, bold colors are a big trend, so keep the trend but look for silhouettes that might work for you. >> last but not least, throwing out our sweats, oh, no. >> a 24-hour sweat might not serve you well, so a great wrap dress, one of our secret weapons from guilt.com, just $79. you just put it on. just as comfortable as sweats and actually made out of sweat

material so that's an easy way to look fantastic at any age. >> it is cozy, but a long way from sweats. >> i know. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> and we're back >> this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. let's get a check on your morning commute with sarah caldwell. >> good morning, everyone. kind of like yesterday, although we're not dealing with problems. -- not dealing with problems of the tydings memorial bridge. if you are going to head out on southbound 95 past the beltway northeast, we are getting reports of an accident there. look at the north side of the outer loop towards parksville. it is just crawling. bumper-to-bumper traffic on the west side approaching reisterstown road. another one for the south on

northbound 97 at general's highway. delays in both directions in that area. update on 95 at the bell lane with these, coming towards us is southbound traffic. watch for this southbound near the beltway. live view of traffic near the j.f.x. is just starting to ease up after the accident was moved to the shoulder on northern parkway. over to you, tony. >> not a great start for us, weather-wise. right now there is still low clouds, fog, and was all hanging around. 53 in randallstown. 55 in jarrettsville. we will start with low clouds, fog, and drizzle, and then it should be partly cloudy. it will be warmer than the last few days. the weather will stay quiet into the weekend. 65 on friday.

next chance for rain, early next week. >> another update at 8:56.

8:30 now on this wednesday morning. it is the 10th of october, 2012. kind of a messy morning here in the northeast. but hopefully the sun will peek through the clouds in a bit. supposed to come out. a lot of physician assistants are out as we are appreciating them this week, and a good morning to you. i'm savannah guthrie alongside natalie morales. matt had to leave a little bit early this morning. >> something looks different but.

you did something different today. >> what do you mean? >> i don't know. you just look different. >> does it seem like i have a little more hair than i did say five minutes ago? >> yes, exactly. >> your hair grew in 30 minutes. >> it's not natural. >> oh, what a horrible pick tour. >> that's great. >> just got some hair extensions which is our way of telling you coming up we'll tell you how to get celebrity hair, and here's the dirty little secret, a lot of it is fake, that's why they look so good. we'll learn how the rest of us -- >> that's how they go from really short haircuts to long hair overnight. >> right, exactly. how to do it and we have a hairdresser to the stars here to show us how to get the fabulous looks. >> after a trip to the grocery store a lot of us throw everything into the refrigerator. there's a right way and wrong way to organize your refrigerator. elizabeth mayhew is going to show us exactly where we should be storing things so that it lasts longer. >> and, of course, you may remember exorcist," linda

blair terrified us. now on a mission to save souls, little kinds of souls so we'll hear about that. >> okay. first a reminder about us a show us your moves contest. holding a danceoff on the plaza. these guys have the "gangnam style," that's for sure. later this month we've already received some great submissions for your chance to compete. don't be shy. if you can't be shy, i like it. find all the details on our website, today.com. >> send in your videos now. we want to see your moves for the big dance party i think on september 22nd. >> sounds found. let's check in with mr. roker, mr. tiny dancer down in miami. hi, al. >> not so much, guys. thanks so much. we are here on the coast guard cutter "flores," hasn't even been commissioned yet. will be later next week, but as we take a look and show you what's happening for today, we've got some showers in the

northeast and also making their way across the great lakes. much cooler air coming in behind that front. we've got beautiful weather in the pacific northwest. hit or miss showers in central and southern florida. gorgeous day in southern california and tomorrow cooler weather is ushered into the even seaboard. we look for some showers and some snow showers and colder weather in the northern plains. cooler in the pacific northwest, and we have some wet weather

>> great new show starts on the weather channel, "coast guard florida." that's tonight at 9:00. any time you need that weather check out the weather channel or weather.com online. guys, back to you. >> all right, al. thank you. well, let's say hello now to jesse spencer. he is the star of nbc's -- >> thanks for coming under our umbrella. >> so nice to have you here. >> so great on "chicago fire." a lot of people recognize you from "house." went from that successful series straight into a new one. >> straight into a new one which is, yeah, which is great. we've got -- this one is so different because we've got so much physical stuff on the show. there's a lot of stunts. it's really about the characters, you know what i mean? we really delve into the firehouse and we get the interrelationships between all the characters. >> you wear all the equipment? >> we wear 70 pounds of gear. >> wow. >> and the fire fighters kind of laugh at us a lot because we tend -- they wear it like when

they go on a run. they will wear it for a run, hour, hour and a half, and we kind of wear it for 14 hours when we're shooting these sequences. constantly drinking water, eat whatever you want, basically free exercise. >> yeah. you don't have to work out. i understand you really worked along the front lines with some of the real first responders. >> yeah. >> they are right there helping you guys in chicago. >> they are there all the time. they actually play the engine guys, so they are in scenes a lot with us, so we're like teaching them a little bit about acting. >> and they are teaching you a lot. >> and instead teaching us a lot about fire fighting, and the funny thing, is all the stories that we have up to date, and based on true stories, which is the great thing. sometimes i'll read something, and i'll be like is that really, you know, and i'll ask our chief consultant and he's like, yeah, this guy dived out of a window, hanging on a ladder, you know, his helmet got blown out on his back, and then he'll bring the guy on set. here's the guy that this

happened to. and you're like nice to meet you. i hope to portray you in the right way. >> dramatic stories. we are looking forward to it. we should remind everybody it starts, the premiere "chicago fire" tonight at 10:00, 9:00 central. >> 10:00. >> congratulations. >> thank you very much. >> coming up next, we'll talk about those extensions and how to get the celebrity hairstyles. as a pastor, my support for question 6 is rooted in my belief that the government should treat everyone equally. i would not want someone denying my rights based upon their religious views, therefore i should not deny others based upon mine. it's about fairness.

this law does not force any church to perform a same sex marriage if it's against their beliefs. and that's what this is about. protecting religious freedom and protecting all marylanders equally under the law. join me in voting for question 6.

. back now at 8:38. in this morning's beauty secrets behind celebrity hair. stylist to the star, ken tavis, come on, worked with a-listers including eva longoria, jennifer lopez and today he's here to show us easy ways to get the red carpet look without stepping

into the salon. ken, i love what you've done with my extensions. >> very quick. did it in about 30 seconds. kind of raises the question is it easy for the average woman to do and apply? >> really is easy for everyone to do. the reason i originally created this line is for women to have the looks they are seeing on the red carpet and in the magazines at home easily and do it themselves. >> it is true, right? you see the beautiful celebrity hair. gosh, why does my hair not look like and because it's fake. >> exactly. can be intimidating but now it's really easy and i can honestly tell you in 18 years there may be a handful of times when i didn't use extra harris. >> wow. you basically clip it in. >> this is my line of hair extensions. everything is clip-in. bas for a night, you can have lighter color anything in an instant. >> i want to get to our models because you sent some extensions to our newsroom and our producers went crazy. some of our producers are here modeling our looks. let's start with the bangs idea. so us what the celebrity look

is. >> done it on jennifer lopez and eva longoria, like the texture '60s updo, a little bridget bardot, a little sophia loren. the clip-in bangs. you want to start just on the hairline. watch the difference this takes. >> this is our producer carrie zimmer when is a gorgeous model, i might add. >> wow, how did you get such a good match on your hair? i would think that's hard to do. >> seven to 11 shades in all the colors, based on all the colors from my celebrity clients. >> i think she looks genius. >> amazing. >> what do you think? >> i like it. it looks good. >> and easy. the best part if you want bangs you can have them, if you don't you can take them off. very easy, no commitment. >> no commitment. like the sound that have. >> thank you so much. >> next we have susan.

this is the hombre trend, harris that starts up darker as you see here on whitney port and goes darker and light on the edges, very time-consuming and damaging to your hair, not to mention expensive. here now you can have it. we'll put on susan this great clip-in extension. >> you lucky duck. >> this is a good one. i like this style. >> has great hair, bob length and i'm going to clip this in, all around the back. >> this is about how long it took to do yours as well. >> wow, that looks cool. >> i'm hearing oohs and wows in the -- in the studio here. she has the great trend of the wear without having to commit to t.fantastic. >> how does it feel? >> it feels good, i like it. >> very nice. >> and our next patient is miss vida. what look are we doing here? >> here we'll do a braided side braid, something i've done on

victoria beckham and kind of a messy look, kind of undone glamorous. what i've done is started with a ponytail. already clipped in the clip-in extension wrap-around ponytail for a base. if you're hair is not this long, can be in a second, and all you want to do is take the ponytail, apologize. three seconds and keep it really messy, messy and loose. the more undone, the better. kind of that casual elegant look. don't want to look too done. >> yeah. >> kind of undone. >> that quick and easy and to be honest i do get all my clients red they fast. 30 minutes or less. >> do you like it? >> feel like a kardashian. >> i know you do. >> i hope you girls have some good lunch plans or something. don't hang around the newsroom with all this good hair. go take it out for a test drive. ken, thanks you so much. nice to see you. >> coming up next, the right way to organize your fridge to make your groceries last longer, but

first, this is "today" on nbc. barnhill: you hear a lot of talk about question seven... so let me tell you what i know: if question seven passes, my company's going to... bring table games, like blackjack and poker... right here to baltimore. a twenty-five million dollar investment... that'll create five hundred new jobs. all right here. today, marylanders are spending $500 million gaming... in other states. let's keep it here. i'm chad barnhill, and we're ready to build right here. we're ready, and it's real. and all that has to happen... is question seven.

january, back now at 8:45 with "today's consumer." this morning the right way to store your food. a trip to the supermarket can be expensive, so you want your items to last as long as possible, and when it comes to putting away your groceries, it's all about location, location, location. elizabeth mayhew is a lifestyle expert and "today" contributor. elizabeth, good morning. >> good morning. >> there are some tips, first, to get started here. before we start unpacking all of our groceries. >> make sure your refrigerator is at the right temperature which is 37 to 40 degrees fahrenheit. freezer should be at zero. that's very important. do not overstock your refrigerator. you need to have some room for the cold air to ruminate and actually keep things cold. conversely, you don't want too little in the refrigerator. you need to have items in there. like one of those people that only keeps water and diet coke, need to have stuff in there, because when you open the

refrigerator, that absorbs some of the heat that comes in. when you're buying containers, make sure they are square. they fit better. >> good to know, right. >> and lastly, do not washur produce. keep it dirty until you're going to use it. >> okay. >> and then wash before use. >> otherwise it gets wilted or goes bad. >> okay. >> let's open it up and take a look at what we have in our fridge. let's start from the top down. top shelf. >> top shelf is the least cold part of your refrigerator. our tendency is always to put milk up there. mostly because refrigerators come, i think, with the shelves at a lower point. >> right. >> and we don't adjust them, so you should adjust your shelves. don't want your milk up here. that is 100% the first thing to start with. >> why? >> because it will go bad. it's the warmest part of your refrigerator. here you want sodas, beer is fine this. stuff is going to stay cold, it's just not -- this is the stuff that doesn't spoil. >> okay. >> any kind of juices that are pasteurized. fresh orange juice store it lower, but for regular tropicana, that is fine up

there. >> okay. middle shelf now. >> i see the eggs on the shelf in their original carton. >> yeah. middle shelf is the most consistent temperature so that is a great place for eggs. do not take the eggs and put them on the door in the plastic container, huge no-no. keep them in the original carton. the cartons are designed especially for eggs, because eggs are porous and will assume some of any bad smells in the refrigerator, so keep them in their carton. >> i've been doing it wrong all along. >> a great place for leftovers, things like salad, that are consistent. >> the lowest shelf is the coldest part of the shelf, where you want things like milk, sour cream, all your dairy. i like to put dairy on a lazy susan, that way you can get to it more quickly and check expiration date. also this is a place for raw meat. so you come from the refrigerator, put it here. the other reason for putting raw meat on the bottom shelf, if it were to leak, it doesn't contaminate the whole refrigerator, only have to clean

t the bottom shelf. >> should you freeze it? >> buy meat in the beginning of the week but beyond a certain point you want to freeze it if you're not going to use it. the door. >> condiments usually. >> condiments because they have sugar and high in salt and vin tar guess natural preservatives. butter and cheeses don't have to be that cold so that's a great place to store them in your refrigerator, okay? >> okay. >> now let's get to the drawers. we can't show them as easily here so we're bringing them up here to the island. >> the produce. what goes in the high humidity drawer? >> never mix vegetables and fruits. fruits give our gasses that will make your vegetables rot more easily and just go bad. >> okay. so you want to keep your vegetables in the high humidity drawer. >> mm-hmm. >> drawers -- like this refrigerator you can adjust the humidity. vegetables like lettuce and carrots the highest humidity because that's the moistest

place in the refrigerator. >> okay. >> often have a drawer that's low humanitity or called a crisper. that's where fruits go. just make sure you're not mixing these. >> and then lastly, a lot of refrigerators have a deli drawer which is where you would put deli meats. if you don't have that drawer, what you want to do is put it on the lowest shelf with the other meets. >> a deli tray. >> there's a deli meat tray. >> sometimes, yeah. >> or just keep it on the lowest shelf with the milk and all of that. a couple of things that should definitely go in the refrigerator. natural peanut butter. any oils that are nut oils, sesame oil, walnut oil. the other oils can go in your cupboards, like -- like vegetable. >> canola oil, olive oil. i learned so much today. thank you. i'll have to reorganize my refrigerator when i get home. coming up next, the star of "the exor sicistif

that music. for many of us linda blair will always be that demonic girl in "the exorcist," the chilling portrayal that catapulted her to stardom as a teenager, but now assin adult the one she's playing is a different one, animal protector and jill rappaport is here to tell us about that. >> "exorcist" scares me.

>> linda blair was only 14 when she landed the girl that made all of our heads spin but the young girl possessed by the devil on screen now in real life has become an angel to animals in need. >> high desert country in southern california. nestled in these mountains, a two and a half acre sanctuary for the forgotten. this is where linda blair spends her day, feeding, training and loving 75 dogs who otherwise wouldn't have a home. >> this is like a little piece of heaven on earth that you've created here. >> i've done the best with what i can. i call it design on a dime for the dogs, and it's quite rough. it's very much a pioneer life up here. >> go get it. >> reporter: after decades of advocating for animal rights, blair started a non-profit organization called the linda blair world heart foundation to ease the plight of unwanted

pets. five years ago she bought this property to give some of those pets a temporary home. >> how are they doing? >> reporter: it's a rather desolate remote place. >> yeah, you think? >> reporter: i love it. it's beautiful, but, you know, it's a hell of a holler to your neighbor down there. >> yeah. >> reporter: how do you get the traffic in so that these animals can get adopted. >> the hardest part, jill, is because of who i am, letting people on the property so you have to go sort of through a security thing and you have to do an application for the dogs. >> about five or six months old. >> reporter: now player plays matchmaker, connecting responsible owners with the kinds of breeds that sometimes have a bad reputation. >> i look at how long they are working and what they are doing during the day and what they offer and their knowledge, small dog, big dog, medium dog, i've about pit bulls to poodles, jill. >> reporter: blair says the dogs she helps are oftens understood and blair knows a little bit about being misunderstood.

in 1937 she was cast in the horror movie "the exorcist" playing a young girl possessed by the devil. >> it was the biggest novel in the world, "the exorcist." anyone would be thrilled to go and try out for a part, for the project. just like "the hunger games" now, to get that job is everything. >> she earned an academy award nomination for her performance, but says the role also demonized her in the public eye. you took some severe heat for that. >> i had so much prejudice against me, jill, that was obviously not true. >> reporter: and you were so young. >> i was so controversial, and it really wasn't who i was. >> reporter: how does that affect you at that young age? >> that's why i fight for the dogs. i understand it. that's why i fight for the underdog. >> i take care of those that have no chance. >> reporter: but these days blair is getting nothing but positive press. this past summer the los angeles

city council gave blair an award for her work with her dogs, including spencer, a black lab mix who saved his adopted family from a home invasion robbery. >> i am really proud that i'm putting out canine good citizens. that makes me know that i am on the right path. >> reporter: this is so nice. do you actually take them out on walks yourself every day? >> well, i just feel that the exercise is most important. >> reporter: while the recognition and awards are nice, they don't pay the bills. every day blair is either working at the shelter or working her connections to raise money for her foundation. having all these animals hear and knowing there were many days that you just looked up and said can i even do this tomorrow, how do you keep going day after day? >> there are days, jill, where really in the last couple of years we were threatened with foreclosure. i got -- i got us out of it on my own, an nobody assumes linda blair off on the mountain with

the dogs, possibly. i'm rich and famous, you know, but i'm not, because all my money through my life has always gone to charity, and they say if you give, it will come back to you tenfold. i know that what i do here is really important. >> it certainly is, and because her organization is a non-profit she's literally living hand to dog's mouth, but as you heard her say it is so worth it, and she wouldn't have it any other way. >> been a long road for her. nice to see her doing so well, jill. thank you. coming >> this is wbal-tv 11 news in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. an 11th hour plea deal will keep tiffany alston from serving any jail time for misconduct. she was accused of paying an employee in your private law office $800 of state money and

using campaign funds to cover wedding expenses pitch you will spend three years on supervised probation and

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